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Title I FAQs
1. What qualifies a school to receive Title I funds?
Schools qualify based on demonstrating that the K-12 membership
has a sufficiently high percentage of economically disadvantaged students. In
this district, Title I funds go to schools showing that at least 35% of the
enrolled students are eligible to receive a free or reduced price meal on the
100th day of school in grades k-5. Once a middle or high school has 75% of its
students on free or reduced priced meals they by law are served also.
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2. Why are Title I funds allocated exclusively to
high poverty schools?
Research studies done over the past 30 years show conclusively
that schools with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students
generally demonstrate lower levels of achievement than do schools with lower
concentrations of economically disadvantaged students. As a result, Congress, in
the reauthorization of Title I under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, now
requires districts to allocate Title I funds to those schools with the highest
concentrations of such students, particularly to those schools falling above
75%. Districts may extend Title I benefits to schools lower than 75%, yet not
below the district average percentage of free/reduced price meals. Currently, in
Alachua, Title I benefits are extended to schools down to 35%.
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3. Which children are Title I
children?
There is a common misconception that a Title I child is a child
eligible for free or reduced price meals, but this is false. Because the Title I
program in this district operates at the school level in the form of School-wide
Programs, there are technically no Title I children in the district; only Title
I schools. The children within each Title I school have no designation related
to Title I.
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4. How are schools allocated Title I funds?
Once a school qualifies, funds are then allocated in the spring based on a
formula developed at the district office that projects the number of qualifying
children at the school for the following year. Occasionally, a further
adjustment is made after the first month of school the year funds are allocated,
to ensure that schools receive funds commensurate with the number of qualifying
children actually enrolled.
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5. How can Title I funds be used?
Title I funds must be used to promote:
1. High academic/achievement for all children;
2. A greater focus on teaching and learning;
3. Flexibility to stimulate local initiatives coupled with responsibility for
student performance;
4. Improved linkages among schools, parents and communities.
In general, funds cannot be used to purchase/lease/rent or improve facilities or
provide routine transportation costs for the transport of students to and from
school or supplant funds the school is already entitled to from other sources.
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6. What are the restrictions on the use of funds to hire staff?
The intent of the law is to use funds to acquire "highly
qualified staff" (professionals & teachers). Although the final draft of the law
permits the use of funds for other staff, the primary focus remains on "highly
qualified staff". Schools intending on hiring non-professional staff with Title
I funds must request clearance from the district Title I office. The state
further prohibits the expenditure of Title I funds in school level clerical,
administrative or school safety personnel.
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7. Do Title I Funds follow the child if he moves to another school?
As indicated in the Act, the intended purpose of these funds is to improve the
school. This is why funds are allocated to schools not to children. As a result,
if a child leaves a Title I school and transfers to another school, there is no
transfer of Title I funds to the receiving school.
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8. Do Private Schools also receive Title I Assistance?
Federal regulations require that districts provide access to
academic support services in private schools that qualify to receive Title I
funds. Assistance is limited to remedial reading and/or mathematics tutorial
services that support the regular instructional program for certain students in
qualifying private schools. As required by federal law, these students must (1)
be experiencing significant difficulty in reading and/or mathematics in their
regular classes and (2) live in a neighborhood that is served by a public school
that is an identified Title I school.
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